


Flower Crowns

by GrandpaSooshie



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:29:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21927370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrandpaSooshie/pseuds/GrandpaSooshie
Summary: Tifa and Barret recruit Cloud and during their time in Midgar as AVALANCHE. On their way, things go awry until they meet the flower girl from the slums.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Tifa Lockhart
Kudos: 3
Collections: FF7 Secret Santa 2019





	Flower Crowns

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SethSuffers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SethSuffers/gifts).

Today had been the day. It had been leading up to all this, Barret (who was my boss and a friend of mine) had hired some new muscle for the group. To destroy the reactor and get out of there with minimal damage to the people or themselves. And they managed it, even if their new hired combatant got on the gun-arm captain's nerves. Actually, it was nice to be able to talk to an old friend, even if we couldn't convince him to work for us unless it was for pay. Actually, that's how it all got started. After the first reactor's destruction was a success, I decided to tag along for the ride. It was nice to fight along side my childhood friend after so long, to be able to protect myself despite still having the feeling of wanting to be protected. 

"You sure he's up for this, Tifa? Yer friend seems real fuckin' weird."

"He'll be fine." I said, twirling my hair in my hand. "He just has his issues. He's been gone so long I'm not sure what he's seen, but I know he'll be okay."

"Alright, I'll trust you but if he's gotta screw loose and decides to act upon it, I ain't gonna hold back. I don't trust him enough as it is."

It took a good few minutes, but we placed the bomb, and tried to get the hell out of there. It ended up being that the 'King Vermin' had decided to arrive and send a prototype after us. It didn't take too long to beat it, thankfully. Barret was the one to take it down, managing to be fed up to his limits and taking it out on the enemy rather than Cloud. We managed to get out just in time despite President Dickbag Shinra getting away. I would've loved to really give him a taste of my foot up his ass and lay some smack down on him to make sure he got the point. AVALANCHE wasn't going to just let him get away with slowly killing the planet. I would've said we did manage to get out but... Cloud... fell. The explosion of the bomb broke the railing and he could barely hold on. It wasn't long before his grip slipped and Barret had to hold me back. We went to the bar after that to catch up on the next battle plan.

It was several hours later but we had found out that Shinra knew where out hideout was now and we knew who exactly had sold them the information. Don Corneo. Considering his "business", we knew exactly what we had to do and I volunteered for the infiltration mission if only because of one thing. If I couldn't unleash my fists on President Dickbag, then I would on this scumbag. But on the way there, I saw Cloud --thank goodness he was alive! Apparently he was talking to some girl I had seen before. Or rather, I had known her because she helped me when I first moved to Midgar. I had always liked her but I never managed to find the confidence to say something and I didn't want to put her in harms way any more than she already was. It was bad enough the Turks were after her and I had to help her get away sometimes... she didn't need to be in any worse of a situation than she was.

It prompted a light memory of when Aerith showed me the church full of flowers just as I saw them both attempt to follow the caravan, likely to 'rescue me'. I guess the extra help wouldn't hurt, but I really more or less needed to get the information.   
\---  
45 Minutes later and who else shows up but Cloud and Aerith. Cloud managed to sneak in--I can't believe Aerith managed to convince him to do this but it was really sweet to see how far he was willing to go in order to help me out even if I didn't necessarily need it. I got the information I came for and a little extra. He had learned that Shinra Inc was going to drop the plate over Sector 7 in order to try and kill AVALANCHE and wipe them out for good. I wasn't about to let that happen in the slightest. But before we left, all three of us got to beat him up plenty before we got back to the bar and warned the others of having to launch an attack to attempt to prevent the plate dropping. Aerith stayed behind in the house she lived in, looking after Marlene for the time being as we went on the assault.

We ended up failing, the plate was dropped and many innocents died. Biggs, Wedge and Jessie also died in the assault. Friends and allies as well as civilians. Countless lives lost due to Shinra Inc's actions. It was the first major loss in a long time and both I and Barret were upset about it. Barret wept before quickly flying into a rage and I wasn't much different when we found out Aerith had been taken. And at that moment we had to rescue her, and that is exactly what we planned to do. Storm Shinra HQ, whether we went in sneakily or stormed the front doors and had to make our way up the hard way. Might be a good chance to take President Scumbag hostage too for that matter but rescuing Aerith was way more important.  
\---  
Everything that went by after that was a blur, we rescued Aerith only to later get captured and thrown into cells ourselves, a ruckus was caused and that allowed us to escape before we went to see President Douchebag only to find out he had been killed. The sword, Cloud and I both recognized it and something primal stirred in Cloud that day. The immediate urge to fight the bastard he used to call his hero was apparent. We had all thought Sephiroth was killed back then, five years ago. Guess that wasn't the case, we had to stop him if that was the case. We had to escape Midgar first though...

Days had passed and we gained teammates. Among them were Yuffie who was a thief from Wutai who hated Shinra just as much as Cloud, Barret and I. Cid, a pilot who's dream had gone awry when he wouldn't sacrifice the life of his assistant, Cait Sith who was a spy (who had been informing the Turks of where we were but had a change of heart and helped us apparently), Vincent who was a former Turk that had been experimented on and Red XIII who we had also rescued from the clutches of the Shinra scientists, particularly Hojo. 

What I had remembered was that before Aerith left, she had collected flowers on the journey. All sorts of flowers: lilies, carnations, hibiscus, roses, daisies, snapdragons... you name it and she could find it. She had kept the basket that she had used to sell flowers and put the flowers there. We were all getting tired from the journey and needed a good rest.

"We should find a place to stay and get some good rest, it's better to be rested and ready for combat than lagging and tired and hungry."

"Yeah, guess that's true, alright, we'll rest and eat then in the mornin' we're gonna get going again."

Honestly, I don't think anyone was more grateful to be able to rest than I was. It was the best time to get to spend with Aerith and that's when I noticed her weaving something in her hands, focused entirely on what she was doing at the moment as if the rest of the world fell away around her. I took the time to sit next to her and sat in silence for a few moments.

"Whatcha doin'?" I knew the answer but small talk is small talk.

"Making flower crowns. With how gloomy this is all turning out, it's nice to take a break and focus on something positive and creative."

"That's true. I actually wanted to ask you a question."

"Oh?" She looked at me quizzically and I could feel the color rising in my cheeks.  
"I was wondering if you would want to spend some more time together after all this blows over."

"Sure, I mean that'd be fine with me." Then she finished the flower crown and placed it neatly on my head. "Here, it looks better on you anyways."

I could only feel my face turn beet red, a muffled 'thanks' escaped my lips. And yet, little did I know that my wishes and dreams would never become a reality. It was only a few days after did we have to rest again with the new president of Shinra on our tails. Aerith went out alone after Sephiroth managed to get his hands on the Black Materia and she went go prevent him from summoning meteor. We went to go and support and protect her when Cloud lost control over himself for a bit before he snapped out of it just before he could hurt Aerith.... only for the rest of us to watch as the ex-poster boy for Shinra to kill her from above anyways, leaving behind the Black Materia and disappearing as we fought some sort of weird monster. By then it was too late to save Aerith and we mourned our loss. We had to stop him... we will stop him.

For all of those who lost their lives, for Aerith, for the planet and for those who continued to fight.

**Author's Note:**

> FF7 Secret Santa Gift for SethSuffers! Merry Chrysler and Happy Holidays! :D


End file.
